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Monday, October 29, 2012

Do you have any fun Halloween costumes that you made this year? I had a special request for a Mrs. Potato head costume this year from my husband's cousin. Their children have Buzz Lightyear and Jessie costumes, and they wanted to dress up with their kiddos. I had my husband's Mr. Potato Head costume from last year, so they just needed the Mrs. Potato Head to go with it, to complete the Toy Story costume theme.

I went to the fabric store two days ago to buy some more brown, pink, white, red, and black felt. I was glad to find I was not the only one shopping for fabric for last minute costumes! The store was packed with moms. God bless all those last minute sewers.

Presenting...Mrs. Potato Head

This is an easy costume that anybody that can sew a straight line can complete. I chose just to glue the eyes, nose, and mouth on. (So much faster!) Oh and of course I had to make her a little purse for Mrs. Potato Head.

Here is Mr. Potato Head and I from last year...

I used small velcro pieces to attach the body parts so they were interchangeable like the "real" Mr. Potato Head. I was motivated and made a child version of Mr. Potato head last year too.

Click here to see the original post with more directions. I hope you all are finished with your Halloween costumes. Less then 48 hours to go. Our family is anxiously awaiting Halloween!

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Goodness! Only a week until Halloween. This month has flown by too fast. We had most of our decorations out by the first of the month, but I still feel a little sad the month is almost over. I love having the yard all decorated when I drive up after work.

Go figure it starts to get really cold here in Texas right before time for trick-or-treating. It was 80 degrees today and it will be 50 degrees by the morning. I am excited to be taking my 4 year old on a pre-school trip to the zoo tomorrow. I can't wait to meet all his little friends and their parents.

In the meantime, here are all of our yard decorations. I saw this fun idea on bhg.com. This sign was a cinch to make. I cut the main sign out with a jigsaw from bead board. My husband made the post to hang the sign off of. (I love my husband so much when he gets sucked into my craft project ideas. Not quite sure he feels the same. Oops!)

I used a black sharpie to write Greene's Dead and Breakfast. Vacancy...

Then I used some dark black stain to antique it just a tad.

Next, I used one of our old wheelbarrows filled with dirt and body parts from the dollar store. Ha Ha. I was super entertained by the sign combined with a few extra extremities.

Monday, October 22, 2012

We had the best weekend! The boys had a little Halloween party for some of their friends. My four year old helped with a lot of the planning and it was so fun to watch him get excited about setting up the party. We had set the date a few weeks ago, but we did not get around to planning until the week before. Apparently,we do our best work last minute. We had a 10 am party so anyone that had other Saturday plans could hopefully make it.

We started out by having the tables inside set up with Ziploc bags full of foam sticker crafts for the kids as they arrived. It was so adorable to see them all in their Halloween costumes in the daylight. They also decorated some white treat bags with spooktacular Halloween stickers. This kept them busy and away from all the games until everyone arrived.

I think the biggest game hit was the pumpkin pop game. My husband helped me adorn a piece of plywood with treat filled balloons. I filled orange and black balloons with candy, Halloween rings, and prizes. We attached the balloons to the plywood with push pins. (It took a hammer to get them in)

The kids walked up one by one and carefully selected their balloon. They took a push pin and popped the balloon of their choice.

Even the little ones loved it. They hardly jumped as the balloons made a large POP!

We had enough balloons for each child to take two turns. They were jumping up and down in line to go again. Ha ha! Precious.

The night before the party, I decided to make pumpkin name stakes for all the kiddos. With the porch light on, I cut out these little cuties with a jigsaw, painted them, and wrote the kids names on them with a black sharpie marker.

I had a large stack of monster masks from oriental trading in my Halloween storage tub. The kids put them on and walked around and danced in a circle to some monster music. We would stop the music and they had to freeze in their monster poses. (This would have gone much better if I had showed them how silly to be first.) However, the parents all got a kick out of taking pictures of their kiddos in the funny masks.

Our next game, was a ball toss into some ghost buckets. Each game had a separate "participation" prize. We handed out mini Halloween puzzles, Halloween bubbles, Halloween books, and Halloween activity pads. I tried to stay away from too much candy because we had desserts and a pinata to go still.

After a round of different games, the kids played outside while lunch was prepared.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Over two years ago, I saw this fun idea featured on Someday Crafts for monster tags. I finally found where they originated from Amanda here. Anyways, just this week I got around to making some similar monster tags of my own out of my stash of bread tags. I can't think of a better way to repurpose bread tags. I have been throwing them in a little drawer in my kitchen for months now in preparation for the official Monster Month of Halloween.

These funny little tags would be perfect on your own baked goods, goodie bags for school treats, snack bags for your child's lunch, and much more. My husband laughed when he saw me making them. He asked what I planned on using them for. My answer..."Anything. They just make me smile when I see them." I really feel like that is what crafting is all about.

Supplies:

Bread tags

Acrylic paint

Sharpie Markers

Sealer (optional)

Gather your stash of bread tags. (No I don't have this many. Lol!) I started with different shapes and sizes. I painted a solid color over the whole bread tag to start with.

Then I began embellishing my silly little guys with faces. I used the end of the paintbrushes to make the polka dots on my monsters. As each layer dried, I continued my painting. I also found my sharpie marker collection to be incredibly helpful in adding small details to their monster eyes, crazy feet, and minor stitches from injuries.

Monday, October 15, 2012

On our camping trip last weekend we participated in the most precious activity. It was called "Magic Pumpkin Seeds." My boys received a bag with 2 pumpkin seeds, a craft stick with the end painted orange, and a baggie full of glitter. We met at the the hay ride and rode far out into the "magic pumpkin field" filled with straw.

Each of the boys dug a little hole with their finger and planted their magic pumpkin seeds. They covered them up carefully with hay and sprinkled the magic dust (glitter) on top. Then they placed their stake with their name written on the orange section beside their seeds.

Here is my youngest and I on the way out. His favorite part was the tractor and the "farmer" driving it.

The kids cousins came along for the fun filled weekend.

The driver told us a story of the Hidem Ma Hidem tribe that had buried their dead at this site years ago. It apparently makes it the magical place it is today for pumpkins to grow sooo quickly. She warned them not to dig the holes too deep or they would get Hidem Ma Hidem guts on their fingers. (You should have seen the little kids disgusted faces. Ha!)

Two hours later, we took a second ride out on the hay wagon to find our "magical" pumpkins.

The kids thought it was incredible and were so exicted to haul their magical pumpkins back into the wagon.

My youngest tried desperately to pick his up and carry it. This would be such a fun activity or tradition to do at home every year for Halloween. I am going to be sad when my little ones grow up and they are not quite such believers in the "magic" of simple things like these pumpkins.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

We had the most fabulous weekend. Our family went camping at Jellystone campground in Burleson, Texas. This Yogi Bear themed park is fabulous. There were activities planned all weekend. From Friday until Sunday we managed to decorate our campsite for a contest, trick or treat, go on a scavenger hunt, ride on a Haunted Hay Ride, go to a fall carnival, plant magic pumpkin seeds, and go through a haunted maze!! Apparently, it lis every weekend in October. This might have to be a new family tradition.

We had heard of the campsite decorating contest on the internet before we went, so I created these spooky gravestones. It is so hard to get a clear picture without having a flash on my camera. This picture does not do them justice.

Supplies:

Plywood

Black Spray Paint

Jigsaw

Drill

Staple gun

Christmas lights (50 count)

Directions:

1. Cut tombstone out of plywood using a jigsaw.

2. Paint with black spray paint.

3. I used 1/4" drill bit (same size as my Christmas lights) to drill out the letters for RIP.

4. Next, I pushed my Christmas light through the holes from the back side of the tombstone.

5. I used a staple gun to hold all the lights in place.

6. I leaned them up against a tree, but you could easily put little stands on the back of them.

Here are my crazy little pirates. My little one is screaming Arrrghhh!!! Lol! You can see the tombstones in the daylight in the background. His home made costume won 1st place in the costume contest and he was super excited to take home a huge pumpkin as a prize.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Recently I have seen all kinds of precious peg people. When I realized you can buy a package of 8 wooden peg people for $2.49 at Hobby Lobby, I decided to try my hand at painting. I started out with some simple characters...a witch, vampire, ghost, mummy, and a pumpkin head. I love that they are small and easy to store each year unlike the rest of our Halloween treasures.

Supplies:

Wooden Peg People

Paint

Sharpie Markers

Directions:

1. I started by painting three wooden pegs black and two white. I used some accrylic paint I had at home.

2. Next, I painted on faces. This took several coats, but the paint dried quickly.

3. I used a black sharpie marker to decorate the ghost and a red one to draw a heart on the mummy.

4. After a few more painted designs I drew on faces with sharpie markers to finish them off.

My son had fun playing with this rough crowd of spooky Halloween creatures all weekend. They remind me of the old fashioned (antique) Little People. At a total cost of $2.50, this was a great investment of time! Now I just wish we still had our cardboard haunted house from last year. We might need to construct a new one.

About Me

Welcome! Thanks for visiting. I am a wife, mother of two small boys, and a nurse. I enjoy crafts, activities, and just experimenting in general. My true love is quilting but that is always a big endeavor. Therefore, I am always up for creating short and simple crafts for myself, gifts, and for my kids to participate in. I find true joy in just small attempts at creativity!